


While The Kids Are Away...

by Killmongersmistress (teakturn), teakturn



Series: A Catfish Christmas [7]
Category: Black Panther (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Erik Killmonger Feels, Erik Killmonger Grows up in Wakanda, Erik Killmonger Has Feelings, F/M, Parent Erik Killmonger, Parenthood, Soft Erik Killmonger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-30 07:43:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19848646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teakturn/pseuds/Killmongersmistress, https://archiveofourown.org/users/teakturn/pseuds/teakturn
Summary: The kids are gone and Fallon and Erik have the house to themselves.





	While The Kids Are Away...

After the arrival of Libby and Maddy Fallon and Erik hardly get any time for each other. They don’t notice at first, that they haven’t had sex in weeks because most nights Libby and Maddy are in bed with them and other nights Erik was working late at the Center and Fallon was usually in bed by ten right after the kids. They just settled into a routine. And they weren’t unhappy, per se. But Erik was tired of waking up in a puddle of someone else's' pee and not being able to hold his wife close without a child running through to take some of his love.

Fallon, so deep into mommy mode, hadn’t even noticed anything was wrong. Maddy really was trying her best but she had difficulty getting up to pee at night. As a compromise on JK’s education Shuri had begun sending her nephew some of the education toys she’d played with at his age. So Fallon had new toys to clean up after and a study plan of her own so she can quiz her son on what he’s learning. Being a mother was a full-time job and it didn’t help that she still had a full-time job with the Center to worry over.

Friday was usually the busiest night in the Stevens-Udaku household. Erik worked from home to allow Fallon to go into the Center and get some work done. She’d come home around five, two hours before bedtime, and then together she and Erik feed, bathe, and put the children to bed. You would think that’d give them time for each other but they both had emails to answer while stuffing their faces with whatever the children wouldn’t eat and a bit of cleaning to do.

This Friday Fallon entered her home to a curiously quiet house. Libby, now seven, had been given a recorder by her school and she liked to “practice” right before bed and bathtime. For some reason, when Fallon walked through the foyer there was no shrill sound of a wind instrument being abused to greet her. She couldn’t hear Maddy singing along off-key or JK making explosive noises at the device that Shuri had promised only had educational games.

It felt eerie being in her own home without its usual cacophony to greet her. When Fallon strained her ears she could hear just the barest sounds of music coming from the formal dining room. They usually just ate in the kitchen because with three kids under the age ten it was easier to clean food up off of tiles and not hundreds of years old antique Wakandan rugs.

When Fallon entered the dining room the sight of Erik lighting candles at a table set for two greeted her. Soft strains of old R&B, the kind Fallon’s grandmother used to listen to, flowed from hidden surround sound speakers. It made her feel both at home and warm, so she relaxed as she approached her husband.

“What’s all this for? Where are the kids?” Fallon’s eyebrows went up when she saw that Erik had brought out the good china 

“This,” Erik lit the last candle and sent her a dimpled smile, “Is for you. And the kids are with T’Challa and Shuri for the weekend.”

“In Wakanda? You know Maddy gets really bad jetlag and the Classroom Mom is already on my case because of JK-”

Erik held his hands up and waved away her worries, “No no no, baby. T and Shuri are out here. They were gonna visit to check out the Center’s HQ. I figured a weekend with the kids will be the perfect test drive should they ever decide to have kids of their own.”

Fallon made a face at the thought of Shuri as a mother. She’d be beautiful at it but Fallon knows Shuri enjoys being an aunt far more than she enjoyed the idea of motherhood. As for T’Challa….. She didn’t know about that one. He had a lot of love to give but she couldn’t get over the sense that he was waiting to give it to someone specific. T’Challa, like Erik (and Shuri), was very sure about what he did and didn’t want. She knew he wanted a family but he only wanted it with one woman. 

Fallon just hopes she shows up before her kids get too big to play with their cousins.

“Now you just take a seat,” Erik grabbed Fallon by the shoulders and directed her to sit at the head of the table, “Have a drink,” he handed her a glass of pink wine, her favorite, “And relax” With a kiss to her forehead he swept out of the room through the connecting door to the kitchen.

Fallon stared at the glass in her hand in wonder. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d sat at a table to be served instead of serving. There were no kids to correct on table manners and no grubby little fingers reaching into her plate. When Erik returned with the meal of honey cilantro lime salmon with herb rice and roasted asparagus her mouth watered. The kids were at that age of disliking most foods and everything on the menu would have been met with sour faces.

Fallon beamed up at her husband, “You made all this for me?”

Erik placed her plate in front of her and sat at the other end of the table with his own plate. He gave her a look that could only be described as adoring and smiled, “Princess you do so much for our family. For our kids, for me, for our work. I’ve never seen you even ask for a day to yourself which is how I knew you needed it.”

Fallon’s cheeks heated. She hadn’t asked for any help because while yes, being a mother was hard and running a charitable foundation was hard but this was the life she wanted. Fallon had dreamed of being a mother, being a wife to a man who deserved it, and now that she had that as her reality all the hard work felt worth it. JK, Libby, and Maddy were the lights of her life. She’d never dreamed of a love like the one she felt for her children. And Erik was a gift all on his own. To think when they first met she wouldn’t even give him the time of day.

Erik raised his glass in toast and sent her another adoring look, “To you, the Queen of the household and of my heart.”

Fallon raised her glass in toast, her cheeks hot and smile wide. They tucked into their meal and basked in the silence of a house without children. They talked while they ate. At first, they tried skirting away from the usual topics of children and work but Fallon quickly put an end to that. They barely had a social life and were never awake long enough to watch the good shows on HBO so they might as well talk about what they had the energy for.

After dinner Fallon retired to a candlelit bath while Erik cleaned up the remnants of dinner. It was probably the sexiest thing he’d ever done for her in all their years of marriage. And that was saying something because Erik could do this thing with his tongue…But Fallon wouldn’t get into that. They could get into that later.

Later ended up never happening. Fallon, so well fed and exhausted from her week she fell asleep as soon as she hit the bed. She felt bad but it didn’t matter because Erik had dropped off on the couch after washing all the dishes. All in all, it was a good night without the kids. As soon as they can stay up past nine-thirty Fallon plans on returning the favor to Erik. For now, she’s gonna bask in her big bed all alone.


End file.
